James V. Waters Sr., retired police detective and former Marine staff sergeant, has died at 92

James V. Waters Sr., 92, of Philadelphia, longtime officer and detective for the Philadelphia Police Department, staff sergeant in the Marine Corps, and member of the National Montford Point Marine Association, died Wednesday, Oct. 19, of congestive heart failure at Complete Care at Kresson View nursing home in Voorhees.

Drawn to discipline, details, and duty, Mr. Waters served as a patrolman and detective with the Police Department from 1954 to 1982, walking a beat in the 39th, 1st, and 4th districts, and then investigating cases as a detective for the Northeast Division. He became the first recording secretary of the Guardian Civic League of Philadelphia, which is the local chapter of the National Black Police Association, and shared many stories with his family of his work on the force, including his time on the beat near the East Falls home of Grace Kelly, actress and former Princess of Monaco.

He joined the Marines in 1948, served until 1952, and was stationed at the segregated Camp Montford Point, now Camp Johnson, near Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. He endured racial prejudice, brutal living conditions, and other obstacles to rise to staff sergeant, and later became an active member of the National Montford Point Marine Association.

The Montford Point Marines were the first Black Americans to enlist in the Marine Corps after President Franklin D. Roosevelt prohibited discriminatory hiring practices in the military in 1941, and they trained at Camp Montford Point from 1942 to 1949 and paved the way for Black Marines who followed. In 2012, the Montford Point Marines were collectively awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in Washington for their service to both the Marines and society in general, and Mr. Waters was shown saluting during the ceremony in a TV segment that aired last month on ABC’s Good Morning America.

The inscription on the gold medal reads: “For outstanding perseverance and courage that inspired social change in the Marine Corp.” President Harry Truman ordered desegregation in the military in 1948, but it was slow in coming.

“He told us of the horrific conditions he endured, of the barracks, and other things,” said his daughter, Karen Bruce. “But, by the end, when he was staff sergeant, the white marines respected him.”

After leaving the Marines, Mr. Waters worked for a few years at Daroff and Sons clothiers in Philadelphia. After he retired from the Police Department, he moved to Sicklerville and became an investigator for New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement. He retired in 1999.

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Born Feb. 22, 1930, in Philadelphia, James Victor Waters grew up in North Philadelphia and enjoyed visits to Woodside Park and Atlantic City with his family. He ran track, graduated from Northeast High School in 1948, and, thanks largely to his wide-ranging bass-baritone singing voice, met Frances Teresa Boyd at St. Elizabeth Roman Catholic Church in 1953 when they sang together in the choir.

“Both were smitten as he walked into the church in his [Marine] dress blues,” his family said in a tribute.

They married in 1954, had daughter Karen and sons Victor and Harvey, and lived in West Oak Lane. His wife and son Harvey died earlier.

Mr. Waters and his family traveled often, and he delighted in planning each journey with detailed itineraries. He consulted travel agents, plotted cross-country trips on maps, and he and his wife embarked on 17 cruises and visited the Caribbean, South America, Central America, Europe, and elsewhere.

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He took his family to the 1964 World’s Fair in New York and to see the White House and other sights in Washington. Ever the organizer, he compiled thick photo albums and labeled each picture with the time and location of its taking.

He was an avid reader, and friends called him a “walking encyclopedia.” He was so smart and worldly, his daughter said, that they often had to secretly Google the topic he was discussing to keep up with him.

He followed football and basketball after he retired and liked to attend the local Montford Point Marine Association meetings. A brick that bears his name is part of the Camp Montford Point Memorial in Jacksonville, N.C.

“He was very jovial, but he had a discipline to him,” his daughter said. “He could be very charming. But the strictness and discipline were always there.”

In addition to his children, Mr. Waters is survived by four grandchildren, one great-grandson, and other relatives. Two brothers and a sister died earlier.

Services were Oct. 31.

Donations in his name may be made to the Philadelphia Chapter of the National Montford Point Marine Association, Inc., 27 Red Tail Court, Limerick, Pa. 19468.